Machines for washing bottles



April 21, 1964 HIROSHI KUSUMOTO 3,129,450 MACHINES FOR WASHING BOTTLES Filed July 19, 1960 I INVENTOR H i Refill mama 0T ATTORNEY 5 Sheets-Sheet -l J April 1964 HlROSHl KUSUMOTO 3,129,450

MACHINES FOR WASHING BOTTLES Filed July 19, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Hie osul', Kus uM T' K ATTORNEY A ril 21, 1964 HlROSHl KUSUMOTO 3,129,450

MACHINES FOR WASH-ING. BOTTLES Filed July 19, 1960 s Sheets-Sheet s x IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ATTORNEY April 21, 1964 MACHINES FOR WASHI'NG BOTTLES Filed July 19, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR HIROSl l KJSUMOTO ATTORN EY HIROSHI KUS-UMOTO 3,129,450

April 21, 1964 HIROSHI KUSUMOTO MACHINES FOR WASHING BOTTLES Filed July 19, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR Huron/1 Kusum oT'o BY ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,129,450 MACHINES FOR WASHING BOTTLES Hiroshi Kusumoto, 57 l-chome, Seifuso, Toyonaka-shl, Osaka-tn, Japan Filed July 19, 1960, Ser. No. 43,884 Claims priority, application Japan Dec. 19, 1959 1 Claim. (Cl. 15-61) This invention relates to improvements in machines for washing bottles, more particularly to the driving means of the endless conveyor that carries the bottle-supporting buckets and the driving means operatively connected therewith for the two sets of brushing devices which accomplish the internal and external cleansing of the bottles.

An object of this invention is to simplify and render more efiicient the intermittent feeding mechanism of the plurality of bottle-supporting buckets arranged between a pair of endless chains.

Another object of this invention is to provide a simple, efiicient intermittent bottle feeding mechanism, wherein a pair of endless chain conveyors are arranged to be driven smoothly at the same rate while maintaining a constant distance therebetween, whereby buckets, each holding a bottle, may be transported to a washing means.

Another object of the invention is to vfacilitate the simultaneous regulation by means of the actuation of a single lever the correlative strokes of the up-and-down movements of the two sets of brushing devices for cleansing the inner and outer surfaces of the bottles, which operate in cooperation with the feeding mechanism of the aforesaid bottle-supporting buckets.

A still another object is to make possible by the constructional arrangement as described hereinabove a bottle washing machine compact in its over-all size and easy to operate, whereby is provided a desirable bottle washing machine in a small or medium size.

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a prefer-red embodiment thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a skeleton view showing a sectional side elevation of the machine;

FIG. 2 shows a side elevation of the driving mechanism of the conveyor chain and brushes;

FIGS. 3 and 4 show respectively a side elevation and a plan of the transmission mechanism to the chain driving wheel from a motor;

FIG. 15 is a side elevational view of the driving mech anism for washers of the outer and inner surfaces of bottles;

FIG. 6 shows a vertical section on the line VI-VI in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows a vertical section on the line VI-IVII in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view showing an inner washing brush, a bottle and its support;

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional view showing the outer brushes, a bottle push-up rod, a bottle and its support; and

FIG. 10 is a partial plan view showing the bottle supports and their conveyor chain.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, as shown in FIG. 1, there is provided in a machine frame 1, a tank 31 for catching the flow of hot water from nozzle 9 and several treatment tanks 32, .33 and 34, which are partitioned with metal plates 2 and contain cleansing liquids, through which a plurality of bottles A are transported with the movement of a conveyor 6. The conveyor 6 is constituted of a pair of endless chains between which are provided in line and transverse thereto a plurality of buckets B in which a plurality of bottles A are arranged.

The operation of the conveyor is accomplished by being geared to a pair of chain driving wheels 50 and guided around several chain guide wheels 5. At one end of the machine, provisions are made for a table 4 for feeding to the buckets successively the bottles to be washed and a device 7, 8 for removing from the buckets the washed bottles. The bottles A, which have been fed to the buckets from this table, are transported with the conveyor 6 and while being transported are subjected to the following treatments. For example, first of all, upon entering the chamber 31 the insides of the bottles are washed with hot water issuing from nozzle 9. Then they pass through hot water tanks 32 and 33, and while being carried upward out of the tank 33, the inner and outer surfaces of the bottles are subjected to a treatment with a cleansing liquid such as a caustic soda solution issuing from nozzles 10, 10, followed by immersion in a liquid in the tank 34. After leaving this tank and while being carried back to the starting end of the machine, an external cleansing of the bottles with rotary brushes 11 and 11a and a hot water spray 12 followed by an internal cleansing thereof with the rise of brushes 13 and a hot water spray 14 are elfected. Simultaneously with e latter operation, the outside surfaces of bottles receive a spray from sprinkler 14a, and then by passing between the nozzles 15, 1511 from which are jetted chlorine water, the bottles are sterilized. Finally, upon arriving at the end of the machine, the washed bottles are discharged to the outside from the buckets B successively through a removing device 8 by means of reciprocating rods 7. While the system of the machine as described above has been heretofore known, the machine in accordance with this invention is characterized in that the intermittent driving device of the driving wheels 50 of the chain conveyor 6 and the lever mechanism for operating the external and internal brushing devices have been improved as described hereinafter.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the shaft 49 of the driving wheels 50, 50, which are geared to the chains 6, 6, is journaled in bearings 51, 51, and has secured to both of its ends a pair of ratchets 48, 48. Both ratchets 48 are intermittently rotated by their respective pawls 4'7 pivoted to the respective rocking arms 46, which are mounted rotatably on the shaft 49. To said arms 46, one ends of connecting rods 45 are connected respectively, and their other ends are pivoted to a crank disc 44 and a crank disc 44a secured integrally to the face of a gear wheel 41, and the aforesaid crank disc and gear wheel are mounted on the opposing ends of a shaft journaled in the bearings 43, 43. The gear wheel 41 in turn is operatively connected to a motor M through variablespeed belt pulleys 35, 36, a worm 37 and a gear 38 which meshes therewith and further through a shaft 39 and a gear 39 mounted thereon.

Consequently, the chain driving wheels 50 are given intermittent revolutions with constant timing by the constant revolution of the motor M. Mounted on the shaft carrying the aforesaid worm 37 (FIG. 3) adjacent the aforementioned driven belt pulley 36- is a cone clutch 27. Another gear 29 mounted on the aforesaid shaft 30 meshes with a gear 28, as shown in FIG. 2, and this gear 28 actuates the hereinafter described mechanism for actuating both washing brushes for the external and internal surfaces of bottles and the mechanism for feeding the bottles to and from the buckets of the conveyor.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the said pawls 4 7, 47 are provided with rollers 53, 53 on their side faces, which serve to disengage the pawls from the ratchets by riding on top of fixed earns 52 when the pawls retreat together with the arms 46. Since the position of the fixed earns 52 are adjustable forward or rearward, it is possible to 3 vary the stroke moved by the pawls, thereby changing the amount of rotation of the chain driving wheels 50'. Thus, each intermittent stroke of the conveyor chains '6 with respect to a given revolution of the motor M is regulated.

As a result, the conveyor chains 6, in which have been arranged in line a plurality of bottle buckets B, are ingeniously driven intermittently by the chain wheels 55 and operate while being guided by the several other chain guide wheels 5.

Next, in the machine in accordance with this invention, for the internal and external brushing of the bottles there is provided only a single lever, which is actuated through a lever 6t? and a connecting rod 61 by the rotation of a cam 29 provided with a groove, which is mounted on a rotating shaft 59 of the gear 28 used for the actuation of the various hereinabove described mechanisms. Precisely, as shown in FIGS. and 7, the lever 62 is pivotally mounted in the frame 1 by means of a shaft 63, and one end of this lever 62 is connected to a crank arm 66 through a pin 64, which in turn is connected to a horizontal shaft 68 of a member 70 in which have been provided in line bottle push-up rods 15, 16 for the external brushing of bottles. Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a crank arm 67 connected with a pin 65 at the middle of the lever '62 is connected to a horizontal shaft 69 of a member 71, Mounted in line in the member 71 are tubular bars 19 having at their tips brushes for internal cleansing of bottles, provision being made for water to be passed through the tubes and sprayed from the vicinity of the brushes 13.

Thus, the up-and-down movements of the bottle pushup rods 16 and the internal brushes 13 are simultaneously effected by the oscillating movement of the lever 62 around the shaft 63 resulting from the rotation of the cam 211.

In this instance, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, since the push-up rods 16 rise and fall along a guide frame 17 together with the member 70 and simultaneously are rotated by the power transmitted through a chain wheel 68a and the aforesaid shaft 68, the bottles A positioned directly above the push-up rods 16 becoming engaged with the tips thereof leave the buckets B of the conveyor 6 and while rotating rise, whereby the outer surfaces of the bottles are cleansed by means of the rotary brushes 1-1, 11 and brush 11a for use on the bottle bottom, as well as the water spray from nozzles 12. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, since the aforesaid tubular bars 19 rise and fall along a guide frame 18 together with the member 71 while simultaneously being rotated by a chain wheel 68a through the aforesaid rotating shaft 69, the inner surfaces of the bottles A held within the buckets B in a position directly above the bars 19 are cleansed by being given a brushing with the rotating brushes l3 and a bath of water spray. In addition, in

i this instance, the brushing is rendered more effective by the bottom of bottles A being pressed downward by pressure pads 24a mounted on a member 24 which is pulled down by means of a connecting rod 23 which is connected through levers 22 to levers 21 which are actuated by another cam groove provided in the earn 20.

The mechanism for the external and internal brushing of the bottles are similar to those in the conventional machines. A counter-weight 72 at the outer end of the lever 62 is provided for the purpose of facilitating the hereinabove described movements, and this is also similarto that of the conventional machines.

Having thus described the nature of the invention, what I claim is:

In a machine for washing bottles, wherein said machine includes a plurality of buckets supporting a plurality of bottles, said buckets being carried by a pair of endless chain conveyors, and wash means including brush means for washing said bottles, an improved drive means for intermittently driving said endless chain conveyors and actuating said wash means in correlation with the intermittent movement of said endless chain conveyors, said drive means including a drive shaft, a pair of gear wheels mounted on said first shaft, a pair of rachets secured to opposite ends of said first shaft, a second rotatable shaft, crank discs mounted on opposite ends of said second rotatable shaft, a gear wheel mounted on said second rotatable shaft adjacent one of said crank discs, said adjacent crank disc being integrally secured to the face of said gear wheel on said second rotatable shaft, said rachets being secured to said crank discs by means of a connecting rod, a pair of pawls, said pawls being effective to impart intermittent rotation to said rachets, adjustment means for varying the eifect of said pawls upon said rachets, including relatively stationary, movable cam track means and roller members connected to said pawls and engaging said cam track means, a motor and gear trains for driving said latter gear wheel, a single lever for brushing bottles, said motor actuating said single lever,

a crank lever connected to said single lever, push-up rods operatively connected to said single lever for raising the bottles out of said conveyor, and another crank lever having hollow rods operatively connected to brushes for sequentially cleaning the interior of said bottles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 885,912 Chilton Apr. 28, 1908 955,551 Reinsberg Apr. 19, 1910 1,340,648 Bayer May 18, 1920 1,986,964 Fletcher Ian. 8, 1935 2,0Q2,201 Herold et al. Nov. 6, 1935 2,162,951 Hill June 20, 1939 2,587,959 Biner :Mar. 4, 1952 2,919,591 Watson Jan. 5, 1960 

